ZOE, Part 1
How can you feel so close to people that you only see once a year?It was so great to be able to spend time with David and Paul and Teresa and Brandon and John and Mike this weekend. And to meet Stephen and Josh and so many others. The ZOE folks are incredibly talented, but we look forward to seeing them mostly because they are family. We learned a lot, sang a lot, (ate a lot), and shared a lot. But there is no way to describe the warmth you feel when you see them again after so long, nor the sadness you feel when they return home. That was multiplied this year as my sweet niece arrived with them and left with them.
An added bonus was seeing the Wrays. It was a tad awkward when Randy was sitting in my pew on Friday night, but I made it a point to get there before him for each subsequent session, so I wouldn't be staring bitterly at the back of his head. And yes, he was blogging in his pew.
The sessions on Friday were good. The sessions on Saturday were excellent. One of the other great things about ZOE is that all the people are such kindred spirits. Those things we struggle over with our church families don't matter with these folks. Instead, we learn how to deal with such struggles in a way that would make Jesus proud. I always learn more about teaching, more about my relationship with my brothers and sisters and with God, and more about love when I listen to John York and Mike Cope and Randy Gill and Randy Harris. Randy Gill in particular drove a message into my heart. Intimacy is hard for some of us dudes. It's something we are constantly working on.
I hope to share some more notes this week. Things that struck me enough to jot down. For now though, I'm still basking in the afterglow of a weekend spent with friends and worship that was intense and beautiful. I wish more people could have been there. I wish ALL of you could have been there. But oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
posted by Thurman8er @ 8:50 AM
3 Comments:
I believe we have our first "Steve-groupie."
I wish I could have been there as well. Maybe one day Bro.
There was one song Zoe sang (the one Sandra and Ashley joined in up front) that I don't know the name of off-hand, but it took my breath away. I felt such a deep, DEEP sense of...something I cannot describe. It shook me to the core of my being. I wonder if this is what it was like 2,100 years ago as the multitude gathered on the hill to listen to the Saviour. I wish I could have heard Randy Gill's words of wisdom on the Beethovan "Missa Solomnis" (sp?)...a work that is so close to my heart.
I think Randy is pulling Steve's leg as for camping there in that pew all night...probably to make sure RANDY got the pew the next two night and not Steve!
Zoe sounds SO much richer in person...to witness the Spirit moving through them is so amazing. I know how I felt after Sunday service...I can't begin to imagine what it would have been like for the entire conference! We were SO blessed!
There are a LOT of "Steve-groupies"...I'm ONE of them!
Steve, you missed your Blogiversary on the 26th. Happy blogiversary! I'd bake you a cake but I'd probably eat it on the trip down to see y'all.
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